We are, all of us, born screaming. Hell is very rarely quiet. I am in a contemplative mood today. In the center of hell Leviathan spins forever, humming gently with electric intensity. If you could feel him it's very much different than anything on earth and hard for me to describe. It's an intense hunger and what feels like a sardonic smile. An evil smirk as if he were getting something over on everyone even us, his chosen children. A brooding, silent fury and a slight boredom. I suppose even a god of suffering can feel boredom.

I sat on the stone surrounding his dwelling place, legs hanging over into the endless pit below the master. I dangled them like a child sitting beside a pond. Using a knife from my belt I chipped some stone chunks from beside me and tossed them over the side. A god's consciousness spans so vast a spectrum it's sometimes hard for it to focus and even when we pass through this chamber on the way to whatever, offering our silent bows of respect and mumbled prayers, he cannot always notice us. But sitting there for a few hours as I had been he eventually took notice. Ever spinning, a ray of black light washed over me and I knew now he was looking. I glanced up and smiled, the hooks at the corners of my mouth tugging gently at the ever open wounds there. "Hello father." "My child. What ails you?" His voice like a typhoon in my mind. We'd all learned to tolerate his voice after a time. "Nothing father. I'm well." I tossed another stone chunk down the shaft. "Come now child. I can feel your dismay. Talk to me."

"I am unhappy father." "Your work displeases you?" If he had eyebrows one would have arched as he said that. I looked up at him shaking my head. "No, it's not that. I just feel....a...discontentment. It fills my throat and it floods my brain. I can't get rid of it." "That is a concern to me child. I want my children happy. Your displeasure displeases me in turn. I am indeed worried. Perhaps you have been working too hard?" I cocked my head and heard the chains affixed there jingle softly. "I have been working extra hard lately hoping to get rid of my feelings." "Ahh there we are my child. Take a rest. Take some time off. Relax. Before long your feelings will pass. I time all things pass child." "I should hope so father. Thank you." I smiled at him. "Be well my child." Then his focus shifted and he knew me no longer.

I walked back to my room slowly, hands clasped behind me. The sandy floor of the labyrinth made a scraping sound as my boots passed over it. The wind blew cold and sour here, tinged with fresh blood. In life I had been a monk. I had wanted to transcend pain and by doing so be able to let anything pass through me. When I found the box I had been told that inside were beings who had done just that. When they took me I was frightened at first but that passed. I came to enjoy my work. I tightened the screws on the side of my neck which pulled the wires on my mouth tighter making my giant frown a shade larger. The hall guardian scuttled towards me and sniffed, a mass of flesh about a man's height with four claws; two on top, one on each side, and two below. Catching my scent he growled happily.

As we met I petted his head gently. "How are you old friend?" "Good. How are you?" He didn't speak well but he could articulate himself. "I'm all right thank you. What have you found today my friend?" The hall guardian often found bits of shiny stone or metal or links of chain which he collected. He was very much like a magpie in this. "We found this." In one of his four claws which braced him against the walls was a short length of very small delicate silver chain like from a lady's necklace. I laid it over my finger gingerly. "My that's pretty." "Yes." He gurgled with a smile. "Pretty sparkly." "Shall we walk awhile?" I offered. "Umm...yes."

Most cenobites paid very little concern to the guardian seeing him as a rather low grade nuisance. Those who did take notice of him without contempt only nodded. He and I often strolled along the labyrinth. His claws clicked gently along the walls and his head, which was down near my knees, bobbed. "See anything good today?" "Yes. Saw man loose." I looked down at him. "A man loose? How?" "Don't know. But loose. We caught him. Made him pay." He licked his lips, his teeth like snake fangs all long and conical. "Whose was he?" "Don't know. Maybe Xipe." Xipe Totec, high prince of hell and the master's favorite son. "The Prince wouldn't allow someone to get loose. That's very rare. What was he looking for this man?" The guardian grunted. "Don't know. Maybe way out." I scoffed as we turned a corner. "There is no way out of here." "We heard there is."

I stopped in my tracks and rested a hand on his oily bulk. "You've heard of a way out Guardian?" "Only heard. Don't know. We only hear things. Don't know much." "What have you heard then?" He shifted his eyes up and down the hall as if about to tell me a secret. Satisfied we were indeed alone he began to whisper. "Once we hear two men talking. Loose. Tried to get out. They not know we were there. We be quiet and listen. We like to listen. They say there is way out of maze, out of hell. They say if you solve puzzle in puzzle you get free." I didn't quite understand him. "Puzzle in puzzle? You mean a puzzle here within the labyrinth?" He nodded, slime dripping from his fangs. "Yuh huh. They say puzzle is..um...we forget what shape. Put self in. If you get out you is free." Again I didn't understand him. His vocabulary was limited but serviceable. "Put yourself in? How do you do that?" His claw touched my hand. "You put your hands in it?" He shook his head. "Nuh uh." One of his nails ran gently up and down my finger. "You put your fingers in?" He smiled. "Yup. Fingers in and it snap shut." He opened his mouth and clapped it closed for emphasis. "You get them out and you free."

"So if you can free your fingers again it grants you an exit." "Yup." He smiled happy at being understood. I rubbed my chin. "Ahh I see. Anyone ever found this puzzle and used it?" He looked away almost embarrassed. "Don't know. We don't know much. We know halls good. Very good. Not much else. We sorry." I stroked his head. "That's all right. Don't be sorry." He smiled and nuzzled my hand. "You good friend to us. We like you. Here." His top claw offered me the length of silver chain. "You take sparkly. We have lots. You take. Maybe it make you not sad?" I smiled. "That's very nice of you. Thank you Guardian." I tucked it in my belt. He grinned. "I have to go now my friend. We'll walk again soon all right?" He nodded. "We like you walk with us. Be good. Bye now." He scuttled off down the corridor and out of sight.

I returned to my room with renewed enthusiasm. The stone door ground on its hinges as I closed it. A few men and women hung on the walls or over beds of nails or coals. They moaned quietly to themselves. It was a nice enough room if dim. I sat on my cot and polished up my chains and wires in a bit of shining metal I used as mirror. This would be an interesting project to pursue. Rumors passed from the damned to the damned. A tiny dim ray of hope in a dark painful world. It was always the new ones that escaped. Someone leaves their door open and someone's flesh pulls loose and they start to run. Foolish endevor but the hope dies after a few centuries and a few escapes. They soon learn not to hope. That hope doesn't exist here. Not even for us cenobites. But this rumor of a puzzle was something I had to look into even if it was a wild goose chase for something that didn't exist. After all it gave me something to do.

I followed the path to one of the common rooms in the labyrinth where cenobites gathered to talk to each other and relax between torture sessions. Many were here this day. Stone benches and seats with spikes set in them were all around along with tables. Bone candelabras provided light their candles made from human tallow, the wicks: tightly bound hair. The luminesence that infected the labyrinth provided additional light but hell was made to be dim. Black on black on grey. A fancy fountain of blood trickled in the center and was a very nice touch. We may be cenobites but we aren't wholly without art. I looked around for a few familiar faces. I saw two I recognized. We don't have names as cenobites but we do nickname each other just to make conversation easier. The one female I knew and her companion sat stitching designs in one another's skin. One of them had a hangman's rope around her neck and her eyes sewn closed. I called her Sonata because she had a very sweet voice. Her bare back was being worked on by her freind who, admitedly, was very odd. Her breasts had been sliced off and hung around her neck by hooks. Her hair had been closely cropped perhaps burned short. It made her look quite strange not to mention she was slightly plump. I called this one Mamora. She gave me a gentle smile as I approached.

"Greetings brother." Her voice was a little gruff but she was pleasent to talk to. Sonata cocked her head. "Who's there then?" "It's just me Sonata." I touched her shoulder. "Oh Monk. Greetings. We haven't seen you in some time. Where have you been?" I sat on a bench across from the bench that they were straddling. I sighed as the spikes dug into my thighs. "Very busy. I haven't been feeling well lately so I threw myself into my work. The Master suggested I take some time off and relax. He said it might be good for me." Mamora clipped a peice of thread off with her teeth. "The Master knows what's best for us. You do work hard anyhow. You should relax as he commands." The design was very intricate that Mamora was creating. Sonata patted my hand. "That's good. Heard a fellow got away from Xipe the other day?" I cocked my head. "You know I'd heard that from the Guardian but I didn't believe it." Mamora looked at me oddly. "You speak to the Guardian?" "Why shouldn't I?" "Well it's just...not normal. No one speaks to the Guardian." "Well there's no law against it." Mamora patted Sonata's back. "Done dear."

Sonata turned her face to me. "Is it? Oh it feels divine. Tell me Monk how is it?" She showed me her back. The design seemed to be a cross between celtic knots and a buddist mandala. "Oh it's lovely Sonata. Very nice." Mamora held forth her bear chubby forearms, her skin was very waxy and unappealing. Not like Sonata's. "Now do me Sonata." Seeing with her mind she took up the needle and thread and began working. Her fingers were so delicate and soft. "I heard something today in the halls. Maybe you girls can help me." They listened intently. "Do you know how the man got away from Xipe?" Mamora nodded. "Apparently the man chewed his hand off to escape some chains." "Very ingenious no?" Sonata smirked. "He was ungreatful." Mamora replied. "He should be honored that the master selected him for transcendence. Tries to escape." She scoffed. "Bastard."

Sonata just shrugged. "Not everyone's here by choice dear. Have to remember that don't we?" Mamora just murmered. I crossed my legs. "Either of you ever hear a rumor about a puzzle?" "What kind of puzzle Monk?" Sonata pulled the thread through. "A puzzle that allows people to escape Hell." Mamora looked shocked while Sonata just shrugged. "Such a thing? That's horrible. It's blasphemy to even speak of it. You should peirce your tounge." "Well I just heard a rumor that's all. Among the humans." Sonata kept working. "I think maybe I heard something along those lines. Not really sure. I don't listen to the fleshbags unless they're screaming." She smiled. "Ooh such a thing chills my bones. How horrible." Mamora shuddered a little. "Don't move dear you'll ruin it." "You girls think such a thing exists?" "I hope not. How horrid. The Master would never let such a thing be." Sonata shushed her.

"Who would know for certain do you think?" "Xipe would." Sonata said off the cuff. She was always a very flippant individual. "Xipe knows lots. If it was real he'd tell you but I doubt it is. Some foolish fairytale the fleshbags tell." "Let's pray it's not." The drooping breasts on Mamora's neck jiggled as she shook her head. "Its not. I just know it Mamora. Like you said Leviathan wouldn't let something like that in here ever." I got up stretching. "Well thanks girls. Take care now. I'm off to see Xipe and ask him." Mamora took my arm and Sonata clucked her tounge. "Oh come now dear you'll ruin it!" Mamora gazed into my eyes and ignored her. "Monk if this thing truly exists....destroy it. Please. Such a thing....it's not right." I just nodded and walked off.

I made my way to Xipe's chamber with a renewed vigor. If just the mention of such an object caused a stolid individual like Mamora to shudder it was worth finding. I checked Xipe's workrooms, of which there were several, but his companions told me he wasn't in. I thought he might be in his sitting room so I went there. The great wooden doors were carved with faces in agony. They were twenty feet high going up into the dark. I pushed one open and went inside. His room was very grand. Innumerable stone pillars formed a straight line leading to his chair. More of a throne really. Each pillar carved with human forms in torture and other delightful sights. Around the room were tokens, souveneers and other odd things hung on the walls and placed on tables. Bonfires were sitting in iron baskets on tripod legs. At the end sat Xipe Totec himself, his pins shining like a thousand points of light all about his face. Several female cenobites were lounging about drinking from goblets, basking in his magnificence. I approached and paid my respect with a bow.

He smiled that delightful amused smile he had. "Monk. To what do I owe the honor?" He crossed one leg over the other, ankle on his knee, setting the spikes on the chair to a new angle in his flesh. "The honor is mine. I've come on a...well on a bit of an errand actually." He looked intrigued as a female caressed his calf with a sigh. "Go on." "I've heard rumors of a puzzle hidden in the labyrinth. A puzzle that allows an exit from hell." Xipe nodded with a smirk. "Ah the Ascension Configuration." "You know of it?" He stepped down off his throne. The females moaned their displeasure but he ignored them. "A legend...or cautionary tale. Depending on how you look at it." He guided me to one of the tables by the wall. On it was a scrap of parchment with drawings on it. "Crafted from the flesh of an angel hardened like marble. It works much like a chinese finger trap. According to legend if you can remove your fingers the blood and flesh it removes revitalizes the puzzle and a dimensional doorway is opened much like the schisms we pass through to enter the fleshworld."

I looked over the drawings but they were no help. Just a sketch of an angel with light radiating from it and some words below in a language I couldn't decipher. "Does it exist?" "That I don't know for certain." "You haven't seen it?" "No one has." "Who created it?" "Again a mystery." "Has it ever been used?" The questions poured from me like water. Xipe raised an eyebrow. "You're assuming it exists then?" He took back the parchment. "You could say I'm working from that point of view." "If it was used I'm sure the Master would have felt such a disturbance." "Where do you think it leads?" "The document does not say." I looked at him. "You can read the words?" "It says precious little. No more than I've told you." We walked back to his throne.

"Angels. They exist?" "Many creatures exist in many planes of reality. I suppose such a thing could but what humans label them is farcical. Humans insist on labeling everything. They can't stand something not having some sort of designation." He sat back on his throne. "I suppose they would be much akin to us except fostering love instead of suffering." He almost spit at such an idea. "But I've never seen one and I prefer to keep such a thought from my mind. It's distasteful." "To say the very least." I echoed. "Did you think to seek such a thing out? This Ascension puzzle?" "Perhaps. If just to see it. Examine it. I would assume it leads to the fleshworld if the humans who escape seek it." "Or perhaps its a trap." Xipe smiled.

"Beguiling foolish mortals with a promise of escape. After all the Master would not let such a thing in here if it allowed an end to suffering." "Perhaps it is." I thought out loud. "If you wish to search for it feel free but I'm of the opinion that it's just a mortal fallacy." He waved a had dissuasively at the idea. "Well, I'm grateful for your help in the matter." "Don't try too hard though. You've been told to take rest. Meditate. It should help you focus your mind for the greater task to which we are all appointed." "I will. If it's not real so much the better. Less trouble for all of us." I bowed and prepared to take my leave. "Oh Monk. Should you find it you will bring it to me won't you? For safekeeping." "Indeed." "And don't be tempted to try it either. If it is a trap I'd hate to have it ensnare someone of your talents with flesh." "I wouldn't be so foolhardy Xipe. I have no desire to leave hell."

Liar! What a liar I was! From the moment he told me what the puzzle could do it was all I could think about. The discontentment I felt with my position was replaced with a desire to leave. I'd had all I could stand of hell and its horrid stink. What had delighted me before now made the bile crawl up into my throat. I looked around at all the suffering and thought what good had it ever brought any of us? What did we get from it? Cheap thrills? Was that worth building an existence on? I had had pain. It meant nothing to me. I had seen the looks of horror frozen on so many mortal faces that it all became a blur. A senseless stupid blur. I couldn't be happy here any longer. I knew that now. I had to get out and the ascension puzzle seemed my only way.

I knew what I was about to loose and the risk I was taking by undergoing such a mission. I had to tie up some loose ends before I made my way into the labyrinth. I walked to Sonata's chamber. She was flaying a man's back with some hooked knives as he lay on a metal slab. Some torches on wall sconces nearby gave light. "Sonata?" She turned around, her rope lashing behind her like a cape. "Monk? What's the trouble?" She came over to me. I couldn't look her in her sewn shut eyes. "Sonata I have to talk to you." "Can it wait? I'm doing something." She gestured back to the screaming man, his spine showing clearly through the butterflied flesh and muscle. "No it can't wait. I may never see you again." She put down her knives on a table and stepped closer. "What's wrong Monk? What are you talking about?"
She was beautiful. Glorious. Save for her sewn eyes. In life she must have been gorgeous. Whatever possessed her to seek out the box? Why had she come? What had her thoughts been when she opened it? My heart skipped. I hadn't felt my heart in eons. "Sonata I...I have to go away. I have to leave. And I'm not coming back." "What do you....? That puzzle. You're going after that exit puzzle aren't you? Monk don't." Her gorgeous mouth frowned. It wasn't mean to twist that way. "I can't stay here any longer. It's hell. It's gotten to me. I can't stand it!" "Oh Monk you're tired. Lay down with me. It will be all right. You need to relax." She gestured to her cot just large enough for two. Oh how I wanted to be there. Sex was permitted provided it was painful but love? Love was forbidden. Any connections to each other, anything that could dull our sense of duty, was not allowed. And anyway what place did love have within these walls? "No Sonata I can't. I want to but....I have to go. You'll never see me again but....I...I want you to know..." "Know what dear?" She reached up with her soft hand and touched my face. I sighed and put my hand on hers. I put my face close to hers as if to kiss her but I didn't. I couldn't. I rubbed her hand gently with my own as our foreheads touched; the only sign of affection I could show. "Goodbye Sonata. Forgive me." I stood up and walked out unable to look her in the face again. From behind me I heard her soft sweet voice for the last time. "Goodbye...my love."
I padded around the labyrinth with determination looking for the one being who could guide me now and I found him. "Hello friend. You walk with us more?" The guardian smiled up at me with dripping fangs bloody from a fresh kill. "Indeed my friend but this time I need your help." "We help you?" He was confused, not understanding how he could help anyone. "Yes. You're the only one who can. No one knows these halls better than you. I need you to help me find that puzzle we spoke of." He cocked his head. "Puzzle? We find puzzle for you?" "Yes. Please." He thought to himself for a moment drumming his claws on the stone wall. "Come. We take you." He glided down the halls and I followed. He was amazingly swift when he wanted to be. "Try to find something that feels odd. Wrong. Like it doesn't belong. Something pure and strong." He grunted his understanding. His eyes whipped back and forth, his nostrils sniffed the air. We took sharp turns and ran down long almost endless halls. The cold breeze bit at my skin whipping up bits of dust and ash. I would have said we were going in circles but I knew we weren't. I'd never felt lost in here before. Not ever. It was strange to feel lost here in the place that had lately been my home and the womb of my rebirth to this existence. The guardian's claws scraped the stone leaving slash marks along the walls. Soon we were in a part of the labyrinth that wasn't so well lit. Guardian growled to himself.
"We smell it here. Stinks. Smells nasty." He breathed out his nostril slits hard to force the smell out. "It here. We know it. We smell it." I looked around. Blank as any other part of the labyrinth. Down the hall before us was something I'd rarely seen: a wall with an end. I could bearly see something there in the corner. Something small. "It's there then is it?" I pointed down the hallway. He nodded. "Right there. You gonna....use it?" I sighed. "I don't have much choice old friend. I've burned all my bridges. Right now Sonata's probably informing Xipe of my decision to use the puzzle. He must have his compatriots combing this labyrinth for me. I can only imagine what punishments would await me if he found me and I'm not interested in any of that." The guardian grumbled in distaste. I looked down at the floor. I was at a loss for words. A glint of light sparkled off of my belt from the piece of chain the guardian had given me.
"Here my friend..." I held it out to him. "I won't be needing this any more." He shoved my hand gently. "No. You keep. Was present. You keep it." "No. No offense but I don't want anything to remind me of this horrid place." He nodded and took it back. "We understand." He pulled a block from the wall with his claw. In the space behind it I could see a sliver of mirror, a fragment of a broken blade and a sequined tatter of a woman's gown. I smiled. "So that's where you keep them?" He nodded with a grin of his own. "All 'round. Little places. That's where we keep them. Our sparklies." I glanced down the hall. "Um guardian....if you....see Xipe or his friends you won't..." He shook his head. "Nuh uh. You our good friend. You were always good to us. We no tell Xipe nothing." I scratched his head and I could swear he almost purred. His oily scalp nuzzled against my hand longer than usual as if he knew it was the very last time he'd get a petting from me. He looked up at me sadly. "Maybe...if you come back....we..walk again some day?" I smiled. "I'd like that very much old friend." He sniffed my hand as I took it back. "I have to go now." "Ok friend. Be good. Bye for long times." He turned around, a difficult task for him, and went back down the hall we had come through.
All that was left now was me and the puzzle. I stepped down the hall and the labyrinth felt colder than it ever had. At the end I kneeled and saw the puzzle at long last. It was a pure white globe with five small holes on each side. Four in a small arch and one beneath. It felt warm despite the cold around me. I sighed deeply and for the first time I was afraid. I took it up and slid my fingers in. Ten clicks signaled that it had clamped my fingers. I yanked them and found they were stuck fast. It was then my true torture began. I tried everything. Placing my feet against it I tried putting all my weight on it and pushing hard but it didn't come off thought I did nearly wrench my arms from my sockets. I slammed it against the walls. I kicked at it. I screamed and yelled. Nothing worked. I twisted my wrists around and tried to feel for some kind of switch or button on the inside with my fingertips. It felt totally hollow inside. It was hopeless. I sat down on the floor defeated. It was only a matter of time before Xipe and his minions got here and I would be caught red handed, my fingers in the metaphorical cookie jar. I sighed to myself. It was over. Far far off I heard a soft clicking as of booted heels. They were coming for me at long last. Calmly I put my hands in my lap and relaxed myself, waiting for the inevitable. Then suddenly something happened.
Something in my brain just clicked. What had Xipe said of the puzzle? Like a chinese finger trap. And how do you get out of a chinese finger trap? "You stop fighting it and you relax." My mouth moved and spoke the words even before I thought them. I took a deep breath in and relaxed every muscle in my body. Suddenly I heard a loud click as if a shutter had been pulled back. The clamps on my fingertips were released. I smiled. I inched my fingers free and felt a sharp blade there. Remembering Xipe's description of the trap I braced myself. The footsteps were coming closer accompanied by whispered voices. I steeled myself and slipped my fingers free. When I looked down again my fingertips had been totally skinned and I dripped bright red blood on my black uniform. Just then the wall beside me lit up very very bright. It worked. I rolled the puzzle down the hall like a bowling ball and stepped through.
It was very warm and very bright. I was blinded. Behind me I saw the open door and the hallway. Figures rushing towards me. At the far end of the brightness there was a moving speck. I walked towards it. When I looked behind me again I saw only the white light. The whole place was like ivory studded in diamonds and hit with the light of a thousand supernovas. I walked toward the speck and what it was became clearer. It was a diamond. Rotating softly reminding me of a familiar sight. But it wasn't black as it should have been. It was pure white. It was a vision of the master but he had been somehow ...transformed. His voice came on softer than I'd ever heard it before. "My wayward child returns to me at last." I shrugged. "Your prodigal son." "Why child? Why did you do it?" "I was unhappy. I didn't want to stay. I...lost my nerve." The soft sound of his sharp edges cutting the air as he whirled. "I understand. And I forgive you. You are the first and will be the last to reach me here." "And where is here?" I looked around and strangely I couldn't feel my body. I couldn't feel the constant pain and what replaced it, the absence of it, felt like ice. Like I had become made of invisible glass. "This place is just a..." "A different point of view." I finished his sentence for him. "Yes child. Exactly. Now..close your eyes." "I...I don't think I can father." "Then just relax." I did. Like before I let go completely. Something came from Leviathan. Like his black ray only now it was gold. As it passed over me everything dissolved. The light, the master, myself, everything. In its place was....How can I describe it? Do you know how the back of your head feels? How you can't see? It's not even not seeing like a blind person who knows eternal darkness. It just simply isn't there. And that's all that was left. Not even nothing. Or maybe it was everything. I couldn't tell. All I was was a thought. A thought in limbo and if I possessed lips anymore I do believe I would have smiled.